I've had my XL1 for 4 years now so this might just be wear and tear....anyway, I've noticed many drop-outs on the last 10-15 minutes of 60 minute tapes. It shouldn't be dirty heads since the rest of the tape is fine.
Has this happened to anyone else? Could it be the tape threader being loose or something near the end of tapes?

Thanks

Randy

Probably is dirty heads to some extent; and you really need to send that camera in for a check-up. Kinda like going to the dentist. Doing so will fix a lot of things.

Have these tapes been used before? Used tape develops dropouts as the metal oxide on used tape begins to flake off. DV tape isn't very robust and shouldn't be re-used. Useful lifetime, IMHO is about 5-6 re-records. Leaving the tape in the camera tends to exacerbate the failure rate.

Nope, these were brand new tapes, left only in the camera for about 90 minutes. I've already called the canon service centre and the operator had never heard of a similar problem. I'll be sending it in I guess. Yikes! I'm hoping it's simple to fix.

Has anyone ever fried their firewire chip in an XL1? I'm going to check, but I think that might have happened if my comp's firewire card is short-circuited.
Yeeesh...everything happens at the same time (the upside is that I can also get it all checked out at the same time)

Randy